空
by ocoa
Summary: AU! In which Tsuna is raised in Italy, and finds himself the attention of the son of the Vongola Nono.


**Oh what the hell am I doing here? I have exams in three weeks, but life is getting really tough. Welp, here's a bit of back story so that this makes sense.**

 **Nana was killed, and Iemitsu finds Tsuna, and brings him to Italy. Here, he is in a Vongola party, where he catches Xanxus' attention.**

* * *

The boy was small, much younger than Xanxus was. For this, women flocked about him, cooing at his oriental roots. The boy bravely took it with a charming smile, and it was this smile that had Xanxus recognise the boy. There was something familiar in the way his smile was fixed upon his face, just relaxed enough to be seen as genuine, and yet, still holding that edge in it that showed his displeasure to those who wanted to see.

It was this smile that also led to Xanxus not being too surprised when he later walked onto the veranda and seeing the boy staring into space, his eyes dark and his smile missing. He was about to turn and leave, when the boy realised his presence. He surprisingly didn't try to cover up with his facade, and instead remained faintly stoic.

"You... are Xanxus...right? The head of the Varia?" Xanxus blinked, and wondered just how the boy knew his name, seeing as which his group was still small. Nevertheless, he let out a grunt in affirmation.

"You're not much of a speaker, are you?" The brunet asked with mild amusement. He turned back to the sky, and Xanxus took it as an offer to stand next to him. Xanxus decided to drop himself on the chair a small distance away instead. There was a pregnable silence.

Finally, Xanxus couldn't stand his curiosity.

"Aren't you going to tell me to smile more? Everyone says that."

The boy looked at him, before he let out a soft laugh. Xanxus' instinct told him it was genuine, so when the boy sat down next to him he didn't really protest.

"I don't think it's really a problem to not smile." Oh, that's new. "Papa says I smile too much, and I guess I do." Xanxus frowned at the sad smile on the boy's face.

"You mean the Young Lion?" Almost instinctively, he turned to look at said man, who really was much older than his name implied. The CEDEF head was laughing boisterously, and Xanxus could see the similarities between father and son only in their smiles.

"Yeah." Sawada Tsunayoshi said, before he leaned back. "He taught me how to fake it since he brought me here." There was a story behind that statement that Xanxus let lie. "He told me that it still looked fake, but it was fine."

Sawada Tsunayoshi gave a bright smile, one that was too bright, and too charming. The thought must have transmitted onto his face, because the boy began to laugh, before dropping off into another somber silence. He gave a self deprecating look, before mumbling close to indecipherably, "I couldn't properly smile ever since Mama died."

And that was the end of the conversation, a story so achingly familiar Xanxus could almost hear a familiar lullaby in the cold, as Fredrico had walked in, and called for Sawada Tsunayoshi.

He blinked in surprise when he saw his younger brother and tiny brunet. In teasing he laughed at Xanxus, ruffling his already unruly hair to say, "wow Xanxus, already going for the next CEDEF head, huh?"

Xanxus scoffed, before smirking. "If I become Decimo it would be due to my own power, unlike you Fredrico."

There was just enough teasing edge to prompt the older brother to laugh, before excusing himself to drag the brunet off. Before he left though, Sawada Tsunayoshi called for him, his words fading as his distance grew. Xanxus still caught it all though.

"Xanxus-san! Please call me Tsuna next time!"

With that the curious brunet was gone, swallowed by a crowd of mafioso ready to saddle up to the would-be head of the advisory board of the Vongola. Predictable, Xanxus decided, and he sauntered off, wanting to find a drink, or something to beat up.

His thoughts were on stuck on the other boy, though, as he poured himself his father's scotch, thoughts floating about the topic of the interesting trash known as 'Tsuna'.

No one in the right mind dared to point out that he was smirking rater viciously.

(Then again, when was Squalo ever in the right mind?)

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 **Depending on the results of this story (ie reviews and favourites) I may follow up and make a full-grown story in... 2 years heh. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, now I need to go disappear back into homework and exam papers.**

 **PS how does one properly name a story? The name of this was basically a pun on the word 空 is sky/air/whatever, while 空の means empty. Nevertheless if you have a better title, please tell me because I swear I hate using non-english characters of anything not remotely linked to the language used.**


End file.
